Thousands Of Google Employees Held Worldwide Walkout Over Sexual Harassment

Thousands of protestors stood on the roads, some had placards in their hand while some chanted “Stand up, fight back” and “Women’s rights are worker’s rights”. This was the view outside one of the world’s largest companies’ headquarter in Mountain View campus in California at around 11 am on Thursday. Almost 3,000 people gathered to protest against how Google acted on allegations of sexual harassment in the workplace. The protestors also raised concerns about workplace inequality at Google.

“Time’s Up Google”

It was not just in California where protesters were raising their voices. Google employees from all around the globe united their voice- from Singapore, India (Hyderabad), Berlin, Zurich, to London, Chicago and Seattle — all of them held a mass walkout.

The snowballing effect was prompted after an article published by the The New York Times last week revealed that Google had paid Android co-founder Andy Rubin a $90 million exit package along with a grand farewell in 2014 while concealing sexual misconduct charges against him.

The protest came in the wake of the #MeToo wave which is receiving a humongous support from the people all around the world. The wave has now taken over “Googleplex”. However, the protestors claim that there are fundamental issues with the company.

According to The Guardian, one organiser who was at the California headquarter event revealed a story of an anonymous co-worker who had complained of sexual harassment by the vice president of Google. The woman claimed that the latter kept his job at the company for the three more years.

Another employee, Nancy, claimed that she was a victim of an attempted sexual assault at an off-site company event. “The last thing I remembered was a co-worker who asked me to switch drinks with him,” she said. She also said that the “first thing that the company did was to silence her”.

Protestors demand

Soon after the mass demonstration by the Gooogle Staffs, a small group of protest organisers announced their protest on social media and released a list of demands. The demands included the end to mandatory arbitration clauses in such cases and commitment to gender pay parity.

Thousands of employees in 40+ Google offices worldwide are part of the #GoogleWalkout that has so far included Tokyo, Singapore, Zurich, Berlin, Dublin, London, Ann Arbor and more. NYC and Mountain View are to come.Here are their demands: pic.twitter.com/oiFkPRfRdr

Google in denial

After The New York Times published the article, Google said that they are “Dead serious” when it comes to sexual harassment.

As stated by CNBC, in a mail addressed to all employees, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and People Operations’ Vice President Eileen Naughton had refuted the claims indirectly by stating they have severe intolerance towards sexual offence at the workplace. The company claimed to have fired 48 employees in the past two years over sexual harassment charges. In fact, 13 among the 48 offenders were reportedly holding senior managerial posts in the company.

On Thursday, Pichai at a conference in New York said, “We don’t run the company by referendum,” he added. “There are many good things about giving employees a lot of voice, out of that we have done well,” as reported by the Livemint. He also said that the outsiders might find the internal dynamics of the company a little chaotic, but the issue is not that intense that a lot have them have characterised.

Optimistic about the protest

A leader of the Black Googler Network, Demma Rodriguez, lamented that if Google wasn’t a place of equality for women, minorities and people with disabilities, “that means the company is failing everyone.”

A product marketing manager for YouTube, (Owned by Google) Claire Stapleton, who was one of the organisers of the walkout event, said she was amazed by the number of protesters turn out, and it was more than her expectations, as reported by The New York Times.

“We’re optimistic that we’ve opened a conversation about structural change here and elsewhere,” she added.

Partner Story

This Diwali Let Us Rebuild Schools To Secure A Better Future For The Country

We all have memories attached to our schools. Yes, obviously we do, otherwise, why would we be all excited for our school’s 10-year reunion? Because reunions are the time when we get to relive those juvenile memories and cherish the good old days.

The times we shared the same bench with our best friend and played tic tac toe on the desk. The times we took toilet breaks in the middle of a class only to secretly loiter around the corridors. The brilliant lunches we shared with our friends on the school playground during recess. Reminiscing over these memories warms our hearts.

Did you know that at least 35 million children between the age group of 6-14 do not attend school in India? There have been several reports that girls drop out of school because of a lack of basic facilities such as toilets. These children are not only missing out on basic education, but they are also missing out on those wonderful memories.

In a bid to make early education accessible to all, HIL Limitedhas taken a wonderful initiative. HIL Limited believe in the fact that when we do things together, better things happen, standing by their philosophy of ‘Together We Build’. In the film, you can see a small child Kamli. The naive child makes a colorful paper lantern for Diwali and gifts it to her school, which is in shambles. She is eager to learn and her adamant heart still gives her the hope that the colourful lantern might make her broken school a little brighter. After her Diwali holidays, when she comes back to her school and finds it prettier her heart rejoices.

HIL Limited believes that education is the right step towards bringing young minds together and creating a feeling of togetherness. Their social initiative has helped 75,000 children like Kamli by rebuilding their schools.

Now, these children would not miss out on basic education. They will also get to make beautiful memories that they will cherish for a very long time. This would also make their future stronger and more reliable. If you know any such school that needs attention, then please write to[email protected].

The Logical Indian appreciates HIL Limited for the wonderful initiative they have taken to make the future of so many underprivileged children better. Children are the future of the country and we hope that by making their future secure, we are taking our country forward.